By the 2023-24 school year, four states each witnessed chronic absenteeism rates above 30%, new research confirms. Other states weren’t far behind.
Chronic absenteeism continues to be a significant issue for schools and districts nationwide, a FutureEd analysis suggests. The independent think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy has developed a tracker that monitors chronic absenteeism rates from the last pre-pandemic year, 2018-19, through 2023-24.
As of last year, Alaska saw the highest rates of chronic absenteeism at 43.4%, which is an improvement from the height of the pandemic when it was at 48.6%.
On the other end of the spectrum, states like Idaho and Alabama shrank their chronic absenteeism rates to 15% and 14.8%, respectively.
“When many students attend school irregularly, teachers can’t move through their curriculum at their usual pace, which hurts the academic progress of students who are attending regularly as well as absentees,” the analysis reads.
Here’s a look at the 10 states with the highest levels of chronic absenteeism during the 2023-24 school year.
- Alaska: 43.4%
- District of Columbia: 39.2%
- Oregon: 34.3%
- Florida: 31.4%
- New Mexico: 29.8%
- Michigan: 29.5%
- Kentucky: 28%
- Colorado: 27.7%
- Illinois: 26.3%
- Nevada: 25.9%
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There is good news to report. Among the 35 states that have released chronic absenteeism data for the 2023-24 school year, all but five reported improvements compared to the previous year. Nevada and New Mexico saw the greatest improvements, each shrinking their rates by roughly 10%.
However, the lack of real-time data on absenteeism is hurting efforts to address the issue, FutureEd explains.
“Knowing who’s in school post-pandemic and who isn’t is critical for legislators, local school board members and administrators, and states shouldn’t rely on thousands of local districts to do the job,” a separate analysis reads.
Be sure to read District Administration’s latest coverage about strategies you can implement to begin tackling chronic absenteeism in your district.
